Their Violence, Your Silence.

I took a very deep breath. Nervous butterflies fluttering around in my stomach as I stared at my own reflection in the big floor length mirror in Caleb's bathroom. The room itself was larger then my own bedroom and the bigbath tub could hold four people easily.

Still the tiles were'nt entirely white, so the room didn't appear steril and there were plants scattered about. I liked this room.

It was bright and warm just like the kitchen downstairs was and when I'd asked Caleb explained me that his room had been his parents room and that both the bathroom and his room had been decorated by her. His dad simply hadn't be able to sleep there after his mother passed away. So they'd switched .

Breathing in deeply again I scrutenized the way I looked. The two piece bathing suit was simple, black with purple polka dots. It had been a gift a year or so back from Katie, because she thought I needed to go out in the sun more and get a tan.

I had tried of course, in our own garden and got hopelessly burned pretty much everywhere because I'd fallen asleep. After that I decided tanning wasn't for me...

Now I'd dug up the bathing suit to wear during my once a week swimming lesson from Caleb. Before I'd worn one of the wetsuits they had lying around, mainly because Caleb liked it when the pool wasn't that warm.

Last time I'd complained about it though... and he'd ensured me that he'd turned on the heat just for my comfort. I really hoped I wouldn't freeze or something.

I was all ready to go and I could hear Caleb rummaging about in his room, obviously waiting for me to be done. Still I didn't open the door and step out.

I stared at my so easily burned pale white skin and the long red hair that hung in a mess down my back. It reached easily to my tailbone and I was glad for once with my untamable mane. It covered most of my back so I didn't feel all that exposed.

I couldn't keep my glasses on in the water but still I frowned, the new pair wasn't as ugly or geeky as the old ones but I felt such tremendous relief that soon, very soon I might not even need them anymore.

Gathering my courage at last I turned my back to the mirror and swung open the door. My eyes immediately found Caleb who wore a pair of casual swimming trunks instead of the wetsuit thingy he wore when practicing.

He of course had no problem getting a tan and still glowed golden from the summer. Just like his hair seemed to have captured tiny pieces of the sun. It was just so unfair how he could be so fit and so handsome...

Then of course the thought came that this amazing boy was in fact mine. I could still not believe it, but Cas and Katie had talked long, very long about it to me last night. Enough to convince me that it might actually really be true.

He hadn't noticed me yet, his back to me as he ran his fingers along the spines of all the books he and his mom had collected over the years. Carefully tucked into a huge mahogany bookcase.

Just then he turned around slowly and fixed his green eyes on me. I was surprised at the momentary pang of satisfaction I felt when I saw his eyes widen and his mouth work soundlessly for a second.

'Why are you wearing that!' was what came out.

A little shocked by that reaction I stuttered: 'Well... we're going to go swimming right? And this is a swimming suit...You don't like it?'

He was still staring at me and although his eyes were definitely not on my face. 'No it looks good on you Wins. Very good actually...'

Then all of a sudden he seemed to realize he was staring and turned around quickly. I was definitely satisfied to see that a blush was creeping up his cheeks now. 'Lets go,' he said a little gruffly as he stalked out of his bedroom.

I hurried after him and only just caught myself smiling widely. My own cheeks still a little red from blushing too but I felt a hell of a lot more confident now. He did like how I looked and by the sound of his reaction maybe a bit too much.

Caleb had come true on his promise and the water was very nicely heated. I slipped in almost immediately while Caleb just sat down at the edge. I was at the shallow end of the pool where I could still stand.

'Hand me your glasses Wins,' he said, his voice still gruff but his cheeks no longer red. I did without hesitating, already used to this routine. I watched the vague blur that was Caleb get up and move to a bench at the side where our towels where.

Then I just let myself fall backwards into the water, already trusting my skills well enough to know that I could float if I regulated my breathing right.I liked doing that, I imagined it felt a bit like flying.

A splash indicated that Caleb had entered the pool and then I heard his voice say: 'You okay there? Mind if I do a few lanes quick?'

Before I replied I already heard him take off into the deeper part of the pool where he could swim the competition length lanes for practice. I watched for a moment as he sped through the water, amazed at the speed, but then contented myself by floating around in the warm water again.

I smiled slowly when I felt the water riple after a while as he swam back to me. Then a hand slid underneath my back to pull me upwards as his other hand found my hip and pulled me closer to him.

I blushed at the close contact to his bare skin and only then realized he was treading water. Which meant... I blinked and looked around quickly and a little panicked. Oh no, I'd completely drifted into the deeper part of the pool.

'Don't worry Wins, I got you. Besides I know you can do it on your own now, keep your head cool.' Caleb sounded like himself again.

I calmed down almost immediately, of course I could do this. If I was able to swim on my own in the shallow part, I could do it in the deep end too. It wasn't that much different, it was just scary because I couldn't touch the ground with my toes. Not even if I stretched as far as I could.

Caleb was already pushing me away from him softly, 'Kick your feet Wins.' Almost an arm length away, his hands supporting me underwater as he held on to my waist. We hadn't done this before but it wasn't that hard to keep my head above the water on my own when I tried.

'Alright now try to swim back to me okay?' Caleb said. We'd done that before, in the shallow end and I felt a surge of confidence.

I kept treading water as he swam backwards away from me to create some distance. Then instead of swimming to him I dove underwater a short way to get the rest of my hair wet and shook it out of my face.

I smiled as I treaded water again to ease the worried look from his face. I felt sure I wouldn't drown, if something happened Caleb would get me out before that happened. I was trusting my own skills a lot more as well.

Having had a taste of diving and finding out it wasn't any harder to swim underwater I decided to dive again and swim all the way to him that way. It was funny how I could almost see better underwater actually.

When I surfaced right in front of him I wrapped my arms around his neck tightly and my legs around his waist. 'It's not that hard,' I smiled at his green eyes. Happy when he wrapped one of his own arms around me for support.

A deep throated laugh echoed around the room as his eyes twinkled. 'I told you that when we first started but you wouldn't believe me... Now look at you! Swimming underwater even...'

I interupted him with a kiss, suddenly no longer feeling awkward about that too. It felt very right in fact. Especially when Caleb's lips molded to mine or when I felt his hand slid up my back to curl around the nape of my neck, pulling me closer.

When I pulled away slowly we were both breathing faster and his green eyes bored into mine. 'I like this...' he whispered and the comment seemed a little involuntarily because he blinked a few times rapidly before he swallowed visibly.

I smiled again and leaned back in for another kiss when Caleb bumped with his back against the edge of the pool. He flipped us around quickly so my back was against the edge and I was trapped between his arms. I didn't unwrap my arms or legs though.

'I like this too Caleb,' I whispered back, still feeling a little relieved now I had something solid against my back. Enjoying the shivers that had nothing to do with cold as he ran a hand along the outside of my leg all the way up to my waist.

'You know, I love how small you are... It's really cute Wins,' Caleb said with a warm chuckle that made his chest vibrate. I surpressed the nervous butterflies in my stomach but allowed myself to bask in the warm feeling that was spreading through me.

We kissed again, long and slowly and definitely toe curling amazing. Then Caleb effortlessly lifted me out of the pool, so that just my legs dangled over the edge.

I pouted at him, 'I don't wanna be cute...' Having heard that pretty much all my life from my brother, parents, friends and especially those old spinster aunts that everyone always has at least one of in their family.

Caleb laughed as he leaned in closer to me. It felt nice to be able to look down on him for once, even though I couldn't see all that well without my glasses of course.

'I think you're beautiful,' he said and then he kissed my stomach. 'Let's get out alright? And watch a movie or something...' He added then, almost as if he felt embarrassed about how sweet he'd just sounded.

Still blushing scarlet red I nodded. A smile on my face. I didn't doubt my friends anymore now, they'd been right, Caleb really did find me attractive.